While a Garden Grove woman was dying of stab wounds May 3, 2017, on the 11100 block of Gilbert Street in Garden Grove, she reportedly told an officer that her 13-year-old autistic son was her attacker. (Photo by Adrian Pineda, Contributing Photographer)

GARDEN GROVE Three weeks ago, Barbara Scheuer-Souzer was desperate to find her 13-year-old autistic son who had run away from their Garden Grove home.

She posted fliers on Facebook, begging for help. Her mom contacted the media, to spread the word.

Finally, after four days, anxiety was replaced with jubilation when her son was found safe in Pomona. It’s unclear how he got there, what he had been doing.

But Wednesday afternoon, in a bloody rage that shocked seasoned police officers, the boy allegedly stabbed Scheuer-Souze, 47, repeatedly, and then left her to die in front of the home in the 11000 block of Gilbert Street.

She died of her wounds.

“In my 25 years of doing this job, I haven’t handled a call where a child has killed a parent,” Garden Grove Lt. Carl Whitney said. “Usually, it’s the other way around. People don’t think of kids having those types of thoughts of doing something so heinous.”

While Scheuer-Souzer was dying, the lieutenant said, she told an officer the assailant was her young son.

Police searched inside the home where the woman was stabbed, but didn’t find the boy.

About 25 minutes after arriving at the home, officers spotted him walking in an alley near Brookhurst Street and Katella Avenue, Whitney said, and took him into custody. He did not resist, nor was he in possession of any weapon.

The arrested boy was booked into Juvenile Hall on suspicion of homicide. Scheuer-Souzer died Wednesday night at an area hospital.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office, which declined comment because it is a juvenile case, decides whether a youth is charged.

A juvenile court judge has 72 hours following an arrest to determine if a minor should continue to be detained in a correctional facility, released to family members, or if any charges should be dismissed, said Jennifer Palmquist, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Probation Department, which handles legal matters involving juveniles.

Police have not released a motive for the slaying of Scheuer-Souzer.

However, Eleanor Watson, who is her mother, said in a phone interview Thursday from her home in Salem, Oregon, that police are familiar with her 13-year-old grandson. Last week, he ran away again, entered a home in Garden Grove that had been tented for fumigation, triggering a burglar alarm, she said.

Police arrested him and booked him into Juvenile Hall. Earlier this week, a judge placed him on house arrest.

“I didn’t trust him to obey the law,” Watson said. “I wanted him in custody. He has a temper and was volatile.”

Her grandson, she added, sometimes clashed with Scheuer-Souzer, usually over chores.

“When he was home he wanted to skirt the issues, but Barb laid the law down,” Watson said. “He threatened her … but never hurt her, as far I know.”

Even though their relationship at times was strained, Scheuer-Souzer remained a caring mother. “Everything she did, she did it for him,” said Watson. “She would move mountains if it would help him.”

Despite having autism, Watson said her grandson is high-functioning and a good student who “knows right from wrong. …

“I don’t know how all this happened,” she added. “I am beside myself and can’t even think straight. This is my worst nightmare.”

Scheuer-Souzer, who is divorced, is survived by two adult sons and a daughter. According to her Facebook page, she was engaged to a local firefighter.

Scott Schwebke is a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and was previously a breaking news and multimedia reporter for the Ogden, Utah, Standard-Examiner. He has also worked at newspapers in Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia. A graduate of Brigham Young University, Scott is the Register's 2014 Beat Reporter of the Year. He has won more than two dozen journalism awards including the N.C. Associated Press News Council’s O. Henry Award for a lengthy narrative on the brutal home invasion slaying of a nurse and a Katie Award from the Dallas Press Club for a feature story on a UFO investigator. Scott has covered everything from methamphetamine trafficking cops to hurricanes and has accompanied police on undercover drug buys. He also provided an award winning, eyewitness account of the execution of a North Carolina death row inmate and obtained an exclusive interview with the ringleader of a brazen escape from the Orange CountyJail involving three maximum security inmates. Having spent two years living in England including Liverpool, he is an avid Beatles fan and memorabilia collector. He and his wife, Lisa, reside in Anaheim.

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